Elise Downing
As seen in:
Restless Mumma,
Substack,
Cosmopolitan (UK),
Coasting,
Coach Magazine,
LoveReading UK,
Live for the Outdoors,
Outdoorsmagic.com
Covers:
Running, Hiking, Adventure, Travel, Sport, Outdoors, Wild Swimming, Lifestyle
Runner, writer, speaker, etc. Author of Coasting and Walk Britain. I really like going outside.
Articles by Elise Downing
And suddenly everything changed
I was so convinced that the baby was going to be late, I hadn’t even put my OOO on when contractions started, the day before his due date. I was certain that I still had time to wrap up the final lingering items on my to do list and enjoy a couple of weeks of maternity leave before the big event.
My favourite short walks of the summer
It’s Friday morning as I’m writing this and I’m in Ingleton, in the Yorkshire Dales, where I’ve tagged along on my parents’ holiday for a few days. We always joke that my mum is cursed when it comes to weather and, after weeks of relentless heatwave further south and mostly just pleasant weather here in Cumbria, a storm seems to have followed them up the M6.
Good things from July
One of my many swims in July It’s Tuesday morning, the sun is very much out and there’s a man downstairs doing some tiling and listening to country music. The time is creeping towards midday and I’m wondering what the etiquette is around making your lunch when somebody is doing work in the kitchen? I’m thinking that the only real option is to decide that you deserve a treat and go out for lunch. Whether I actually deserve a treat or not is debatable.
I’ve run a lap of the UK’s coastline – these 10 runs are the best
With options ranging from a six-mile bay run to a seaside ultra, the British coastline offers something for every runner. Here are the best, chosen by the woman who’s run them all... I truly believe that the British coastline is a national treasure, especially for trail runners. I spent ten months running a lap of the UK, covering around 5000 miles of coast paths, so that I could tell you which are the best ones.
I grew a courgette and I'm very excited
I come from a long line of gardeners. A veg-growing nepo baby, if you will. My great-great-grandfather, James, was Head Gardener for huge posh houses in Hampstead at the end of the 19th century. According to my dad “he actually knew what he was doing”, looking after collections of kitchen gardens, ornamental gardens, glasshouses - the whole lot. His son, Reginald, followed in his footsteps.
Tapping out of running at 28 weeks
Adventures without running My year got off to a good start, running-wise. I spent Christmas and New Year travelling around New Zealand on a big, once-in-a-lifetime sort of trip. We were outside pretty much every waking moment, and doing as much exploring on two feet as possible. Having been injured through the autumn and DNSing a couple of races I was really excited about, it was just so nice to be able to take advantage of everything New Zealand had to offer.
Good things from June
How can half the year be gone already? Excuse the cliche but it really does feel like yesterday that I rang in the new year in a grotty club in New Zealand. On New Year’s Day we ran through the sulphur springs and went to a spa and ate dumplings. Then I blinked, and now it’s the end of June, and by the time another six months has passed it’ll be nearly 2027 and I’ll have a three month old baby.
Postcard from Malta
Earlier this year, I went to Malta for the marathon weekend. We were only there for a couple of days and the trip was dominated by as much sitting down and carb loading as possible before the race, and plenty of sitting down and celebrating after the race. I absolutely loved Malta though. I liked the food, the coastline, the dose of February sunshine, the whole vibe. So when it came to booking a summer holiday with my mum, I suggested we go back.
My grandma died and I sold a microwave
Articles and everything else The To Do list never ends Aldeburgh beach, when Grandma came to visit during my run around the coast The last time I saw my grandma, we’d gone round for an advent calendar party. In April. She’d bought one of those expensive beauty calendars in the sales after Christmas, so we’d all taken it in turns to open a door and then swap the items inside, eating tea and cake and cheese at the same time. I came away with some muscle rub and a bath oil.
Just over 21km at just under 21 weeks
Articles and everything else A day out at the Staveley Half Marathon On the first weekend of May, my Dad drove up to the Lake District to run a half marathon with me. And when I say ‘with me’ - it was Dad’s race really. Perhaps his third favourite hobby - after falling asleep on the sofa and drinking cups of tea in the garden when it’s not quite warm enough - is researching holidays to go on and activities to do.
My lowest mileage year ever?
Baby’s first half marathon (in Malta, back in February) When I wrote my last post, back in January, I didn’t expect it to be three months before I clicked publish again. Then a lot of life happened, winter became spring, I kept pausing paid subscriptions and now - here we are. The fifth month of the year already. My last two posts before the break involved me big time struggling on an 8-mile run around Buttermere and wanting to just stay in and eat biscuits.
A winter's weekend in Buttermere
There are lots of things that Isaac and I agree on (Jimmy Perez being the best TV detective, 8pm being a perfectly acceptable bedtime and Crocs, to name a few). One of the main things we disagree on is what makes a good run. I like hard-packed trails, solid ground under my feet, forest fire roads, walking up every single hill, long runnable descents, nothing too technical, knowing exactly how far we’re going before we set off and sticking as closely as possible to the planned route.
Let's just stay in and eat biscuits
If you want 2026 to be the year you finally finish that book you’ve been thinking about writing forever, come along to our writer’s workshop in Kendal in March. A full weekend of workshops all about ‘getting it done’, with several special guests, lots of expertise, loads of snacks, and an all-round good time. It’s Friday morning and it’s raining. Of course it is. I look at the weather app and it’s literally black clouds up until February 12th, as far as the long-range forecast goes.
Want to finally finishing writing your book this year?
I say this from experience as a chronic procrastinator and starter-but-not-finisher: the hardest part of writing a book is just getting it done. Seeing it through past rewriting the first paragraph 100 times and the moments (of which there will be plenty) when you have a page of what seems like completely unsalvageable nonsense in front of you. It’s the self-doubt and the “maybe tomorrow?” and the “who would want to read this anyway?”.
January catch-up
I’ve had a month off writing here and now I have major blank page syndrome. Merry Christmas? Happy New Year? Can I still say that on January 21st? I was in New Zealand for Christmas on what I think I can deservedly call a “once-in-a-lifetime trip” with Isaac’s family. We spent three and a half weeks road tripping from Queenstown on the South Island back up to Auckland on the North Island.
Post-injury running diary
Saturday morning parkrunning Back in September, I was feeling pretty fit. It was nice, having spent the beginning of the year very much not feeling like that. It had been a good summer for adventures. Back in the groove of weekly long runs, fastpacking the Snowdonia Slate Trail, a week in the Alps with my Dad, a 60km ultra with Isaac in Peak District. I was just at that point of it all feeling really fun again.
A decade on from running the coast
This time 10 years ago, I was running around the south coast of England. I’d just reached Dorset and was about to start the South West Coast Path. I was one month and a few hundred miles into my run around the whole coast of Britain. I set off on that adventure on November 1st 2015. It’s a date forever etched in my memory. Yet the anniversary almost passed me by this year.
Autumn on the Kentmere Horseshoe
My alarm went off long before sunrise on Tuesday morning. Bed was warm, everywhere else was cold and I absolutely didn’t want to get up. I still haven’t replaced the main bulb in my bedroom so I got dressed half in the dark. Leggings, t-shirt, two fleeces. It’s a good job most of my clothes are black - difficult to clash too much, really. I hurried downstairs to put the heating on, then the kettle.
Good moments from a less good week
Last week wasn’t shaping up to be the best anyway, for a variety of reasons, and then I came down with some sort of not-quite-the-flu thing. When we were younger, my mum always used to say you’re not sick unless you’d miss your own birthday party. By that measure: probably not sick. By any other measure: feeling pretty ropey. And you know when you start feeling ill, and then it makes you wonder, is this why I cried about the colour of some paint yesterday?
Everything I read in October
I’m finally home, after nearly a month away. I took the train from Manchester Airport to the small town where I live on Tuesday afternoon. The further north we travelled, the harder it rained. It was pouring by the time we arrived. I dragged my suitcase through puddles on the 10-minute walk from the station and worried about how wet everything was getting. When I got home, the boiler wasn’t working and the batteries had gone in both smoke alarms. Still, it’s nice to be home.
Losing the battle to win the war?
I’m writing this from Heathrow Terminal 3. I’ve found a spot by the window in a quiet* corridor. The wifi doesn’t work but it’s nice to see some daylight. (*Quietish. I can hear a lady having a pretty impassioned phone call about artichokes.) From Corfu, I headed straight to America for work. I was in North Carolina, the same spot I spent a lot of time in last year, and it was nice to be back.
Postcard from Corfu
Hello, It’s Friday morning and I’m writing this from the bar area of our all-inclusive hotel in Corfu. It’s raining today, hence why I’ve opened my laptop for the first time all week. It’s only 10am but obviously some people are already double-parked with tequila sunrises. More people are just drinking coffee, eating crepes, playing card games, reading books and watching the thunderstorm through the floor-to-ceiling windows though. I haven’t been on this kind of package holiday for maybe 20 years?
What I pack for a multi-day hiking trip
The end of summer involved two multi-day trail adventures for me. The Snowdonia Slate Trail (which I wrote about in detail - sorry if you’re bored of hearing about it) and then a week in the Alps doing the Tour de Fiz with my dad (which I haven’t written about yet but will at some point, because it was great!). Two very different trips in very different places covering very different distances - but my packing list was almost exactly the same.
Still a huge fan of the Isle of Man
Hello from the Isle of Man! I’m writing this on Friday, although you’re probably reading it a few days later. It’s super sunny and I can see the sea from my hotel room window. Right now it’s the gap between breakfast and heading to a school to speak to some Year 9s about writing books. It’s my second time visiting the Isle of Man and, again, I’m here for Manx Litfest, which is one of my favourite events to be part of.
Never brag in a bothy (or outside a Spar)
This is the fourth and final instalment of the Snowdonia Slate Trail blogs. TL;DR: I loved it. You should definitely do it. But in case you want to start from the beginning… And next week I’ll be sharing a guide to everything I pack for a self-supported fastpacking adventure like this! Subscribe to get future posts in your inbox Something that never fails to amaze me about running is how quickly your perception of distance changes.
Running the Snowdonia Slate Trail (Part 3)
Just a quick note to say I’m speaking at two events in September: The National Trust’s Car-free Inspiration Day in Kendal (Sunday 21st Sept @ 2pm) Manx Litfest on the Isle of Man (Wednesday 24th Sept @ 7pm) Tickets available at the links above - I’d love to see you there! This is Part 3 of a mini-series about the Snowdonia Slate Trail. In case you missed it… I’d booked the cheapest B&B I could find in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Breakfast was self-service, from a little cubby hole kitchen.
Running the Snowdonia Slate Trail (Part 2)
To read Part 2 in this mini-series about the Snowdonia Slate trail. Read Part 1 here. From Llanberis, the Slate Trail starts climbing straight away. You start as if you might be going up Moel Eilio, but then swing a right to skirt around the mountain instead. There’s a few hundred metres of ascent and then you hit a nice, wide track. It’s the sort of trail I’m normally praying for and made me feel at least semi-confident that this route was going to be as runnable as I’d hoped.
Running the Snowdonia Slate Trail
It seems like everyone on Substack has taken August off. I didn’t mean to, but then I wrote a post last week that was so blergh I ended up unscheduling it. I subscribe to the idea that not everything you write has to be earth-shatteringly amazing, but it should probably at least be passable. Instead, I’m backloading the month, and you’re getting a four-part series on the Snowdonia Slate Trail in quick succession. This is part one, with parts two, three, and four coming over the next few days.
A wedding, a cold and a retreat
So far August has involved a wedding, a cold and a retreat. That feels like it should be the start of a joke. Not a very good one though, clearly, as I haven’t got a punchline for it. 15 years ago, I got into Plymouth University through clearing (the system that allows students to find places after the normal application window has closed).
Isn't it cool the things our legs can do?
It’s Sunday morning and I’m drinking my third coffee of the day. I don’t feel like I got much sleep last night. I was tossing and turning all night in that way I always do after a long run. I think that’s a thing, isn’t it, it’s not just me? You run for six hours and you think you’ll be nice and tired and you are, kind of, but somehow that doesn’t translate into actually sleeping.
How to spend a week in Andorra
For as long as I can remember, my dad has been dishing out what he calls his ‘tips for life’ (so much so that it’s now the name of our family WhatsApp group). They vary vastly in scope and seriousness but, as far as any of us can remember, the original was ‘weed your patio’. I’ve not yet progressed to the stage of life where I have my own patio to look after, but this wisdom is absolutely ingrained for when that day comes.
Wednesday night wild camp to cheer up the week
Hello, I’m back! Thanks for bearing with me while I had a few weeks off from writing here. I’ve just checked and I last wrote about taking my Dad to Keswick Mountain Festival.
Take your dad to work day
Hello, The last week has involved some ups and some downs. I was working in Dublin, then headed straight to Keswick Mountain Festival for the weekend, which was brilliant - and so, so sunny. It seems to always be sunny on this specific weekend in May. If you want to book a British holiday then make sure you time it for when Ultra-Trail Snowdonia is on - there’s been a heatwave on UTS weekend for the last four years, or maybe even more. The festival was great.
Hangovers and running
I’m really excited to be partnering with Project Pause again this year for another retreat in the amazing Howgill Fells. Join us August 8th-11th for a long weekend of walks, runs, swims, yoga, incredible food (honestly, so delicious!) and always the nicest gang to hang out with. Use PAUSEWITHELISE50 for £50 off - only a couple of spots left! I used to do a lot of hangover runs. Attempting to tick off the Sunday long run regardless of how I’d spent Saturday night.
Annual desire to run a road marathon
It was the London Marathon last Sunday. It was always one of my favourite weekends of the year when I lived in London, whether I was running, cheering or that time Sophie and I set off at 3am from the finish to run the route backwards. I’m sad not to have been there this year but, if social media is anything to go by, it looked crazier than ever. Running really is having a moment, isn’t it? It’s also my annual time to wonder: would it be fun to run a road marathon again?
Same chair, same breakfast, same fleece
A few weeks ago, I introduced one of these newsletters by telling you that I was in Northampton, that it was a Friday morning and that I was eating toast and marmalade and drinking lukewarm coffee. And today I’m writing to you with an almost identical set up, from the exact same spot at my parents’ dining room table. That’s the thing about sending out weekly(ish) mail. You realise how often you do the same thing, how rarely you have something completely new to say, how boring you are, honestly.
When the trip makes it out of the group chat
You know that “when the trip finally makes it out of the group chat” meme? Well, that’s exactly what just happened the weekend before last - and it exceeded all expectations. But before I tell you more about the trip itself (keep reading for full details and costs of a 10/10 weekend camping in Wasdale), I want to tell you about the group chat. Some time in late 2022, I received a message from a then-stranger called Hannah on Facebook.
🎙️ Adventuresome chat with Elise Downing
Hello Restless Rebels, For those of you who missed it — here’s last week’s live chat with . Hit the play button to watch or listen to it. We talked about her new book Walk Britain, that time she ran 5,000 miles and why there will always be learning in the ‘doing’ of things — whether it turns out how you expected it to or not. Elise always makes me smile w…
A 13-hour long midweek holiday
Okay so I do realise that we’re at risk of this just becoming a weather blog but, when the sun’s shining, how can you talk about anything else?! I’m scrolling through the BBC Weather app and it’s showing wall-to-wall sunshine right through to the end of next week. And because this is the UK and a) this is exceedingly rare and b) we can never quite trust that it won’t vanish in an instance, I feel this frenzied need to make the most of every last second of it.
Hello, I’m writing to you from a rainy Northampton. The sunny spell seems to be taking a pause, which is a shame but necessary for all the plants etc I guess. I remember during the first lockdown - half a decade ago, how?!? - when it didn’t rain for weeks and the ground was all dry and cracked. Good for sunbathing, outdoor activities and my mental wellbeing, bad for almost everything else. Coasting is a reader-supported publication.
Freelancing: the good, the bad and the ugly
It’s Tuesday afternoon and I’ve just got back from taking my Grandad out for a coffee and a bacon roll. He’s 89 and, having been fiercely independent throughout his whole life, he’s recently had to give up his car. I can’t really imagine how that must feel - knowing that you might never leave the house again without somebody else taking you.
61 tips for your first marathon
I ran my first marathon in 2014. I had taken up running the year before, off the back of my 2013 New Year’s Resolution to finish a half marathon. With that goal boxed off, a full marathon felt like the obvious next step. I was at university at the time and involved in the RAG (Raising and Giving) society - if nothing else, I thought a marathon would be a good fundraising activity. I really liked the idea of being a runner.
The sun comes out and everything's better
I feel like the sun has been shining for three weeks straight. I spent a long weekend in Gran Canaria which was cheating, obviously, but even since I’ve been home I’ve been chasing good weather around the UK. And it’s been great, hasn’t it? This premature glimpse of spring? Notes of genuine warmth in the air? Feeling confident enough to leave the house with a raincoat in your bag? Every year, I convince myself that I don’t mind winter.
A week of ultra marathon recovery
Just a quick note to say that there are only a few tickets left for the launch of Walk Britain, which is happening this Sunday (March 9th) in Grasmere, Lake District. Limited spots available to join us for a walk (social 9km, starting at 8am), then there’ll be coffee and cake and a Q&A all about the book/anything else you want to chat about. It’s completely free to come along, you just need to grab a ticket below.
Running 82km across Gran Canaria
I reached the checkpoint at Garañón a little after 6.30pm on Saturday evening. The sun was low in the sky - I had watched it set through the trees on my approach to the campsite that hosts this aid station - and I was 43km (27 miles) into the Transgrancanaria Advanced race. “Hot food?” a marshal wearing a green raincoat asked me as I crossed the timing mat. I nodded and he directed me into one of the cabins.
Thoughts before my first ultra of the year
I wrote this on Friday, before setting off to run 82km across Gran Canaria. Then I chickened out of sending it in case everything went horribly wrong and I had to be helicoptered off a mountain or something. Anyway, I’m happy to report that (spoiler) I had a really good day out, better than I probably deserved. I’ll send you out a full debrief in a couple of days but for now, here’s the prelude ahead of my first ultra marathon of the year.
Why I wrote a book about car-free adventures
I didn’t pass my driving test until I was almost 30. My mum had offered to pay for a few lessons for my 18th birthday but my motivation was low at the time. I would have still had to cover the rest of the cost of learning which felt pointless given there was no way I could afford a car at the end of it, not on the £4.28 an hour I earned working Saturdays in WHSmith. I ended up trading in the lessons for an interrailing pass to travel around Europe (on brand, it turned out).
Walk Britain by Elise Downing
Walk Britain Synopsis Walk Britain by Elise Downing is an inspirational collection of 90 walking routes accessible by public transport which can enable you to see the best of Great Britain in an environmentally friendly way. The book is organised into easily accessible base locations throughout England, Scotland and Wales – simply choose where you want to stay or day-trip to and then pick your adventure.
Back in the Lake District
My new book Walk Britain comes out this week, on February 6th. It’s a collection of 90 walking/running routes all of which are public transport friendly, taking you on car-free adventures all over England, Wales and Scotland. You still have a few days to pre-order and be entered into a prize draw to win some Darn Tough socks (the best!) and a Komoot subscription.
Writing a book is a weird experience
Writing a book is a weird experience. First, you have an idea. You mull it over for a while, spend a lot of time thinking, I’ll start working on that book tomorrow. I expect that, for most of us, this is the phase that lasts the longest. Forever, even. Countless ideas destined to stay just that: an idea.
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